CSG protest group halts Dart drilling

A coal seam gas protest group has claimed success in temporarily halting
Dart Energy
’s plans to drill at its Fullerton Cove project near Newcastle pending a full legal challenge.

The injunction secured by the Fullerton Cove Residents Action Group in the Land and Environment Court follows a nine-day blockade of the site by local residents concerned about potential damage to water supplies. It allows Dart to complete road works and a well pad, but prevents it from carrying out any drilling, according to the protest organisation.

Dart secured NSW regulatory approvals in June to drill planned pilot wells at its PEL458 licence north-east of Newcastle. It said at the time the approval was an important step to progressing its gas sales contract with a glasshouse vegetable grower, Maria’s Farm Veggies.

The project originally involved drilling four horizontal wells into coal seams to intersect with a single vertical well from which the gas will be produced. But Dart has since scaled it back to two wells drilled from a single well pad. The controverisal hydraulic fracturing process won’t be used at the site.

NSW has become the hotbed of environmental and farmer protests about coal seam gas, which is more developed in Queensland than south of the border. Santos is also facing protests around its coal seam gas drilling plans in the Gunnedah Basin in the north of the state.

The Land and Environment Court decision “sends a strong message to coal seam gas companies that communities are prepared to stand up for their land and water, and expose planning loopholes which favour mining over people and environment", a spokesman for the Fullerton Cove Residents Action Group, Justin Hamilton, said Thursday in a statement.

But Dart Energy Australia chief executive
Robbert de Weijer
noted the injunction was only partial and said the company was pleased to avoid an immediate injunction and could continue with its site preparation work. It was also pleased the judge had ordered an expedited hearing to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

Mr de Weijer said the full review could take place as early as the end of September or early October, meaning that if Dart gets a positive judgment, its project would suffer only a small delay.

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But he expressed disappointment about the “eleventh-hour" court action after Dart had gone through the approvals process and had carried out extensive consultation with the community.

Mr de Weijer said that any plans for a full commercial project would be required to go through a separate approvals process.

“This is purely the exploration work we are talking about," he said.

Mr Hamilton said the group hoped Dart would now reassess its plans and voluntarily withdraw from the exploration licence entirely. Otherwise, the group said it wants NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell to intervene and cancel the exploration licence “on the grounds of the significant non-compliances that have occurred previously".

Dart pointed out that NSW faces the risk of gas shortages in the next 2-3 years if long-term gas supply contracts that are due to expire within that time-frame cannot be replaced with local supplies such as the coal seam gas at Fullerton Cove.

“Dart is attempting to be part of the solution to any upcoming any crisis," Mr de Weijer said.